Gareth Batty: Should counties be judged on trophies or England players?

Star man: Alex Hales, who scored 66 at the Oval, was picked up after impressive form for Nottinghamshire in 2011 GETTY

England's matches at The Kia Oval this week had me thinking about a question that bothers many people who play or follow cricket. What is the main objective of county clubs in this country?

Is it to win the County Championship and challenge for silverware in the limited-overs competitions? Or should it be to produce as many England players as possible?

It is a real conundrum for clubs and coaches. In virtually all team sports in this country, with football the major exception, the pinnacle for any player is to play international sport. In football, the Premier League can overshadow the England side, but that is certainly not the case in cricket or rugby union.

You cannot have the national governing body, in this case the England and Wales Cricket Board, having too great an influence over the selection policy of the counties. You can’t have a situation where a young player takes the place of a proven one, simply because the England selectors are keen to see how he might perform in a senior side.

So while there is little point in counties simply picking English youngsters, as some have done over the years, England-qualified players have to be given the best chance of making the progress their talent deserves.

When the Kolpak ruling was introduced in 2003, it allowed more players from southern Africa and the Caribbean to play for county sides without needing to be registered as overseas players.

After 2008, the European Union changed its interpretation of the legislation, so you see far fewer Kolpak players now. That has meant more England-qualified players getting their chances and, logically, that will continue for years to come.

Throughout my career, it has been about counties trying to strike a balance between producing England players and winning silverware. All counties have members and I can’t think of many who would be happy to see their club relegated from Division One, as long as they had produced one or two players who’d made it into the England squad that season.

You look at the people employed by the counties, too, like the coaches and their staff. Since two divisions were introduced in 2000, results have become paramount. Job security is based on what happens on the field. That is the main yardstick by which coaches are judged — not how many players gain international honours.

When they break into county sides, players cannot be thinking that their only goal is to get into the England team. That could lead to them taking their eye off the ball, and damaging their own prospects and those of their team. During my first spell at Surrey, from 1998 until 2001, we had several full internationals, but we were a strong side because the coaches and the club made it clear that if you played for a successful team, international honours would take care of themselves. That should be the message coming from both the counties and the ECB.

The NatWest T20 Blast comes to the Kia Oval on Friday May 30 when Surrey take on Middlesex in the big London derby. Tickets are still available at kiaoval.com and are only £1 for U16s.